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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29411811">S O A R I N G</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_kinda_like_starkid/pseuds/i_kinda_like_starkid'>i_kinda_like_starkid</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Falsettos - Lapine/Finn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Sports, Gen, Slow Burn, Slow To Update</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:20:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,188</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29411811</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_kinda_like_starkid/pseuds/i_kinda_like_starkid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Whizzer is a seventeen-year-old guy with his eyes set on the Olympics. His life isn't perfect but it's as good as it gets. Or is it?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dr. Charlotte/Cordelia (Falsettos), Marvin/Trina (Falsettos), Trina/Mendel Weisenbachfeld, Whizzer Brown/Marvin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is the start to a long fic that I'm going to struggle to update but I hope to get the first chapter up soon.<br/>Sorry this is short.</p><p>I hope you'll enjoy this teaser/trailer to the fic.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Lean back… Lean forward… Back… Forward… Back…</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Go.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right…</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Jump!</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Whizzer’s heart pounded rapidly in his chest.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>His brain was screaming everything he knew at him.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>And he was <strong>soaring.</strong></em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Introduction.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Here it is! The start of this fic that I'm so excited to share you you all. I hope you enjoy. :)<br/>I set a number of chapters but that might change.</p><p>CW: mentions of sex and STI's</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun beat down on the grassy field of Whizzer’s Brown’s school. Whizzer exhaled and sat down, wiping sweat away from his face. He brushed sand off of the back of his legs and knees. His hazel hair that hung over his forehead was damp with moisture, so he pushed it back, slicking it in a very natural way. The light, minty green singlet he was wearing was sticking to him as the burning sun beat down its harsh heat. A relatively short teenager with dark, curly hair approached Whizzer looking tired.</p><p>Mendel and Whizzer had been friends for several years. They became friends in the first few weeks at their high school. They had been paired together for a project and were forced to work with each other. They discovered they actually had a lot in common and became close friends. Now, neither of them really hang out with anyone else, they rely on each other.</p><p>“You coming over tonight?” Mendel asked as he removed his throwing shoes, almost out of breath.</p><p>Whizzer let out a long breath and started taking his spike shoes off. He placed the shoe on the rubber track. “Where else would I go,” Whizzer chuckled sarcastically, “anyone else gonna be there?”</p><p>“Uh— Well, there’s you,”</p><p>Whizzer Brown; sassy long jumper.</p><p>“There’s me,”</p><p>Mendel Weisenbachfeld; kooky field reserve.</p><p>“Charlotte,”</p><p>Charlotte DuBois; powerhouse discus thrower.</p><p>“And Cordelia,”</p><p>Cordelia Muller; wonderful person and distance runner.</p><p>“And some other friends from comps.”</p><p>“Cool.” Whizzer finished peeling his socks off and slid on one of his slides, picking the other one up and rubbing his foot with the other hand.</p><p>“And Trina.” Mendel said quickly, so quickly Whizzer almost didn’t hear it. <em>Almost</em>.</p><p>Whizzer dropped his other slide. “Are you kidding?” It landed upside down.</p><p>Mendel turned to face Whizzer and clapped his throwing shoes together, making a brisk, clicking noise. “Yes. Whizzer. Trina.”</p><p>“But why?” Whizzer groaned dramatically, rolling his eyes for emphasis. Mendel glared at him.</p><p>“Whizzer. Trina could be the love of my life. Of course she’s coming.”</p><p>Trina Hobart; <em>netballer</em>.</p><p>Trina Hobart was everything Whizzer wanted to be. She was pretty, everyone loved her, did a sport that people actually liked, and she was normal. She was <em>so</em> normal but that was what Whizzer wanted. He didn’t want to be some taller than average, seventeen-year-old, social outcast, homosexual. He just wanted to be wanted. But he wasn’t. At least he had Mendel who is willing to jump in front of a bus for <em>Trina</em>. Whizzer was scared he might lose him, to Trina Hobart of all people.</p><p>“Okay. Whatever. I just hope <em>I</em> don’t fucking see her. She’s a stuck-up prick.”</p><p>“Hey!” Mendel threw one of his crocs at Whizzer’s head.</p><p>“Ouch,” Whizzer droned sarcastically, throwing it back.</p><p>“Don’t talk about my future girlfriend like that.”</p><p>Whizzer scoffed, rolling his eyes once more. “If she dates you, I will fuck a girl.”</p><p>Mendel laughed. “Oh yeah? Bet. The thought of naked women repulses you.”</p><p>“All right. Enough with the ‘I’m gayer than gay’ jokes. I’m gonna go home and get some study in before heading to yours.”</p><p>“Do you have your stuff on you? We can just go to my house straight away. We can study together.”</p><p>“Uhh…” Whizzer thought for a second. “Sure, why not?”</p><p>Whizzer and Mendel finished packing up their things and walked to Mendel’s bus stop. Mendel took a long sip from his drink bottle. Whizzer looked over at his friend as the sun burned beyond the street, then took Mendel’s drink bottle and drunk from it. Mendel opened his mouth but only grumbled lightly and snatched the bottle away from Whizzer. Whizzer laughed and teased him until they made it to the bus stop where they sat down. He closed his eyes and imagined himself jumping further than he had ever before, making a world record.</p><p>“Have you two had sex yet?”</p><p>Whizzer opened his eyes, “Jesus Christ Mendel.”</p><p>“What? I’m just looking out for you!”</p><p>“By asking if we’ve had sex?” Whizzer arched his eyebrow and shot a disgusted look at his friend.</p><p>“Did you wear a condom?”</p><p>“Mendel.”</p><p>“Don’t get an STI. I’ll kill you.” Mendel stood and grabbed Whizzer’s shoulders. “I will literally kill you if you get an STI.”</p><p>“Thanks Mendel. That’s exactly what I want to hear after breaking up with my boyfriend,” Whizzer hissed at his friend.</p><p>Mendel gasped softly; his eyes full of  regret. “Shit. Whizzer, I’m sorry.”</p><p>“You’re fine,” Whizzer huffed, “good riddance, I say.”</p><p>“Whizzer, I didn’t mean…”</p><p>Whizzer waved his hand. “Whatever, the bus is here.”</p><p>The two tagged onto the bus and sat in silence. Whizzer fiddled with his spike shoe bag while Mendel looked aimlessly out the window. They stopped a few times, and it took an old woman about four minutes just to get <em>onto</em> the bus and it drove Whizzer crazy. He felt awkward sitting next to Mendel and he never usually does which made it worse.</p><p>“Why’d he break up with you?”</p><p>Whizzer shrugged. “He’s an asshole. Like I said,” Whizzer looked up, “good riddance.”</p><p>Mendel nodded and looked away. Whizzer left his bag alone, leaving it to drop to the ground and then folded his arms. His ex-boyfriend had broken up with him on Tuesday right before Whizzer went to athletics practice and while Whizzer had been sad and angry, he jumped straight into warm-ups and forgot about his ex. It worked a treat. He forgot all about his ex until he went home and saw some of his books on his floor. He cried for a little then pulled himself together and went for a run then watched a movie. Eventually, Whizzer couldn’t take it anymore.</p><p>“So, you wanna guess the movie I watched?” Whizzer asked, turning to his friend, breaking the uneasy silence.</p><p>“Oh, I love this game! Go, go, go.”</p><p>Okay,” Whizzer rubbed his hands together, “it’s a movie musical. Based on a true story—”</p><p>“The Prom!” Mendel guessed excitedly, fully thinking he was correct. Whizzer shook his head, internally regretting bringing up the thought of playing the game. He would never get it.</p><p>“The main character is gay.”</p><p>“The Prom!”</p><p>“Mendel. I just said no.”</p><p>“Oh. Right. My bad.”</p><p>Whizzer laughed. “Okay, okay. Themes include music, gay, British, drugs, America, gay, singing…” Whizzer listed off all the things he could think of and bent a finger down every time he said something. His head was leaned slightly down, eyes peering forward at his friend through his eyelashes. Mendel sat looking extremely confused. Their stop was approaching so they paused the game to get off, thanked the driver, and continued the game. “By the way Whizzer, I’ve only seen one movie musical and that was the Prom because you made me.”</p><p>“First off, I apologise for that, the movie wasn’t good. And second, are you kidding? You’re never going to get it then.”</p><p>“You gonna tell me?” Mendel nudged the tall brunet.</p><p>Whizzer gave him a look that said, ‘are you serious?’ and said, “well, of course I will.”</p><p>“Right go on then. I’m in agony here.”</p><p>“It’s called Rocketman. It’s Elton John’s story as a movie musical and oh, my God it was amazing.”</p><p>“Yeah… But would I watch it?” Mendel reached into his sport bag for his keys, shaking it around, listening for the keys. “Slash, would I enjoy it?”</p><p>“I don’t know. It had some heavy themes. But it does have some great music.” Whizzer had his arms folded and tapped his fingers as they stepped up to the front of Mendel’s house. “Great actors too.”</p><p>“Oh <em>really?</em>” Mendel turned around slowly with a grin on his face and wiggled his eyebrows.</p><p>“Shut up.” Whizzer playfully shoved Mendel who then proceeded to fall in the most dramatic way possible.</p><p>“Ah! Aw! Ow! Bloody murder! I’ve been killed!”</p><p>Whizzer scoffed. “Hurry up, Mendel. I thought we were going to do <em>homework</em>.”</p><p>Mendel scurried off the floor and kept saying that Whizzer had a crush on an actor. He wasn’t going to admit it to Mendel, but he was right. Whizzer did have a crush on one of the actors, but he wasn’t going to inflate his friend’s ego. They dumped their bags into Mendel’s room and took their homework into the lounge. Mendel helped Whizzer with some science flash cards and Whizzer helped Mendel with analysing a passage for English. They did a bit of Mathematics together and then Whizzer worked on his History while Mendel worked on his Chemistry.</p><p>Mendel called time after Whizzer had got halfway through making a PowerPoint, saying that ‘if he ever had to read anything about chemistry again, he would jump out a window.’ Whizzer agreed and went to get changed. He only had some hand-me-down shorts and a hoodie, so he took his sport shorts and shirt off and put the clean pair of shorts on and the hoodie straight on. He was a little cold, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. Mendel asked him to help set up some snacks and drinks, so he helped with that before dropping onto his favourite couch in Mendel’s house.</p><p>“Where’re your mum and dad?”</p><p>“I would say business trip because that’s what they told me, but they went on a marriage rekindling thing to ‘reignite’ their fire.” Mendel shimmied his shoulders when he said reignite to get his point across.</p><p>“That sucks,” Whizzer huffed.</p><p>Mendel chuckled. “Not for me.”</p><p>Whizzer and Mendel hung around for a while; Mendel spent the whole time trying to figure out who they guy Whizzer liked was from the movie. Whizzer just said no to everyone Mendel asked about, while fiddling with the corner of a pillow and that did the trick. People starting trickling in soon and Mendel went to greet every single person. Whizzer took his time organising good music on Mendel’s fancy sound system that was set up in the living room and on the deck until Charlotte and Cordelia arrived.</p><p>“Whizzer!” Cordelia squealed. She ran over to Whizzer and grabbed him into a hug. Whizzer laughed and hugged his friend. “How are you?”</p><p>Whizzer nodded. “I’m good, I’m good. You?”</p><p>“Well,” Cordelia beamed, “Charlotte asked me out and we’ve been dating for a while now. I think it’s going super good, too!”</p><p>“So do I.” Charlotte appeared behind Cordelia and put a hand on her hip. Cordelia grinned and moved into the touch, getting closer to her girlfriend. “Hey Whizzer.”</p><p>“Uh, hey!” Whizzer waved and wiggled his eyebrows at his friend before her girlfriend dragged them both away to talk to people. He plonked himself down on a couch and watched people go by. He recognised some people and engaged in some small talk. Things were getting boring until a slightly muscled, tall guy walked past him, grinning. Whizzer stood up and followed him to ‘talk’.</p><p>They ended up making out for a while. The exchanged numbers and Whizzer was content with his choice to be social.</p><p>A couple hours later, all of the guests had left. The mess that covered the backyard was less than either of them expected. Whizzer turned off the music and sat down on a couch again. Mendel sat next to him and let out a long sigh. Whizzer cocked an eyebrow; Mendel turned to face him and sighed straight into his face.</p><p>“Okay. What is it.” Whizzer sat up straight and pressed his hands against the space above his knees.</p><p>Mendel pouted, dishevelled. “She was here.”</p><p>Whizzer scoffed and rolled his eyes. <em>Big woop</em>, he thought.</p><p>“She has a boyfriend. Some guy named Marvin Gardens? What a stupid last name.” Mendel sunk deep into the couch.</p><p>Whizzer could sense that his friend was upset so he just agreed with him. “So dumb.”</p><p>“And you know what the worst part is? Since Tyler’s out sick, I have to throw against him at the comp on Sunday.”</p><p>“Damn, that sucks.”</p><p>Mendel exhaled through his nose, resting his head against the plump couch cushions. “He just had to be a field person, huh.”</p><p>“It’s like that sometimes, Del.” Whizzer patted his friend’s shoulder. “I’ll bet you anything you’re better looking than he is.”</p><p>Mendel let out a laugh, a short one.</p><p>“Movie?” Whizzer asked, somehow banishing all the negativity that was previously filling the room.</p><p>“Yeah,” Mendel sighed, “yeah, that sounds good.”</p><p>Whizzer grinned and stood up. “Cool.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I just wanna say thank you all so much for reading. Writing is a great passion of mine and it makes me so happy to see people enjoying it. So thank you, thank you, thank you.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A Sunday competition.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>There is a lot of athletics jargon in here so here are what some things mean:<br/>PB - Personal Best<br/>Slider - Person who throws with a slide (slide being a way to throw a shot put)</p><p>I grew up with athletics and this is genuinely how people interacted at competitions. Everyone was friendly all the time and it was super easy to strike up conversation. I never did because I'm extremely introverted but I watched them happen.</p><p>Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I'm so sorry that it took forever to update. I have several internals and assessments right now and haven't had a lot of time to write. THAT is besides the point. It's here, it's queer and it doesn't have any content warnings!</p><p>&lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Whizzer Brown sat behind a metal fence that separated the grass he was on and the orange, brown rubber track. Mendel stood around awkwardly because no one else was at the throwing circle apart from one of the officials. He made sure Whizzer took him early to his event, shot put, otherwise he would be late. Now they were early and neither of them had anything to do.</p><p>Cordelia rounded that corner, her hair bouncing at her shoulders, cheeks red and mouth forming words that Whizzer couldn’t dictate. He cheered for her. She quickly flicked her hand up in acknowledgement and Whizzer smiled.</p><p>The sun was soft on Whizzer’s back while it hung in the air in the late afternoon. If you looked close enough you could see heatwaves rising off the track. Whizzer had already finished at the long jump and was ready to spend the rest of his day watching his friends compete. Being supportive and seeing his friends do well made Whizzer endlessly happy. He was fidgeting and pulling at the grass beneath him but looked up when he heard Mendel hissing his name.</p><p>“<em>Whizzer.</em>” Mendel looked to the right, checking for runners, before jogging across and leaping over the fence to sit next to his tall friend. “Whizzer.”</p><p>“<em>Yes?</em>” Whizzer hissed back.</p><p>Mendel pointed to the throwing circle. A relatively short boy stood, carefully swinging his arms in circles while muttering numbers. His hair was a dark brown and too long to be called short but too short to be called long; it was pushed back and held in place by nothing, like magic. His white and green shirt had the school’s name and logo plastered on the back in big, black letters. His relatively loose, green shorts cut off about two inches above his knees. He had bright, red (maybe even woollen?) socks that stopped at his ankles. His shoes were worn out from use and stained strange colours around the bottom.</p><p>Whizzer could perfectly imagine a song playing in his head as he took in as much of the thrower as he could.</p><p>“That’s him.” Mendel’s voice cut through Whizzer’s wandering thoughts like a professionally sharpened knife.</p><p>“Huh?” Whizzer mumbled, struggling to take his eyes off the muscular thrower who was so carelessly unaware of how he was making Whizzer feel.</p><p>“That’s Trina’s boyfriend,” Mendel spat, “Marvin.”</p><p>Whizzer tried to hide his blatantly obvious widened eyes to no avail, so he just ended up looking away. Mendel patted Whizzer’s shoulder as he stood up. “Well, I have to throw now.” Mendel straightened out and didn’t move for a while. Whizzer cleared his throat which seemed to remind Mendel of what he was doing because he sprung to life and got ready to jump the fence until he saw runners turning the corner. He waited as patiently as he could and watched Cordelia round the bend, giving her a cheer. Once it was clear, he vaulted over and went to go get ready to throw.</p><p>Progressively, other throwers trickled in but there weren’t that many new arrivals, only about six or seven. Mendel was constantly throwing uneasy glances back to his tall friend who gave him an encouraging thumbs up or a nod every other time. He didn’t think it would help very much but Whizzer never knew with Mendel, which was a weird thing to say seeing as they were best friends. One time at an interschool event, Whizzer had said Mendel’s throwing skills were equal to that of a horse’s asshole taking a shit, and that very day, Mendel came first place <em>and</em> broke his personal best. Although the harsh words had helped Mendel, Whizzer refrained from using them again; after all, Mendel was his friend and he wouldn’t hurt his feelings on purpose, even if that meant both of them wouldn’t have to watch him publicly embarrass himself.</p><p>He turned when he heard the ground being tapped by light feet. A beautiful girl stood, leaned up against the metal fence. Not just any beautiful girl. <em>Trina Hobart</em>. Whizzer nearly laughed at the absurdity of her being there, except it wasn’t absurd at all. She was there for her boyfriend, being a good girlfriend. A part of Whizzer scolded himself for being so petty, she had a right to be there and support her boyfriend; Whizzer just didn’t want to have to see her. He cast a look over to Mendel who was staring helplessly at Marvin as he stepped into the circle to throw. Whizzer, Trina and Mendel all fell silent and still to watch Marvin turn his back on the throwing ‘V’.</p><p>Marvin took a step forward, then another. Whizzer wouldn’t have pegged him as a slider and watched more carefully. He positioned himself while lifting the shot put up and over his shoulder then his head before bringing it back to sit on said shoulder, nestled next to his neck. He leaned down. He bounced a few times whilst breathing irrationally. Then he slid his feet and twisted his whole body, his arm flexing as it thrust forward pushing the shot put into the air. It sailed through the sky, rotating as it floated over the grass.</p><p>The red shot put hurtled into the ground with a muted ‘thunk,’ and Marvin stood still for a moment before stepping backwards out of the circle. When he turned, he was smiling and someone clapped a hand on his back and shook him vigorously, congratulating him. The brunet pushed his hair away from his face and looked over in Trina’s direction. She clapped for him and blew a half-hearted kiss. Whizzer would see the back if he rolled his eyes any harder. He watched Marvin awkwardly grab at the air and tuck it away.</p><p>Marvin turned slightly, toward Whizzer’s way, and their eyelines connected. Whizzer stared, because eye contact happens, and it isn’t weird. But Marvin kept the connection. And then Whizzer couldn’t look away. It did become weird eventually, because Whizzer felt a steady stirring inside him that quickly became a roaring fire when Marvin threw a wink his way.</p><p>“<em>It was meant for Trina,</em>” Whizzer tried convincing himself. “<em>She’s next to me; it was for her.</em>”</p><p>Whizzer managed to pull himself together just before Mendel stepped up to throw. He did his wind-up (which was not <em>nearly</em> as dramatic as Marvin’s was) and threw with certainty. It didn’t go as far as some of the best throws, but it wasn’t the worst. Mendel spun and bounded out of the circle; a massive smile plastered on his face. Whizzer returned the smile and stood up, cheering for him. He would’ve jumped the fence and hugged him if he could, it wasn’t every day that Mendel was proud of his throw.</p><p>Twenty five minutes later, the group of boys throwing had thinned. It was only Mendel, Marvin and six other guys left. The official called out that this was their second to last throw and Whizzer gave Mendel a reassuring, sympathetic grin. Mendel was vibrating, his nerves and adrenaline high. Marvin did his entrancing wind-up and threw, the shot put landing just behind his last mark. Whizzer watched Mendel shudder as the boys before him threw with force and vigour. They were all bigger than him, taller too, and he looked like a black sheep among a sea of white.</p><p>Whizzer could feel his gut settling, finally, while he watched Mendel lean back to throw. He wound up, released, and it landed in a flash. Mendel swore and didn’t bother walking out the back of the circle. The official said something to him, but he waved it off before running across the track and vaulting over the fence to slump into Whizzer.</p><p>“I sucked,” he moaned.</p><p>“You didn’t suck,” Whizzer reassures him. “Your first throw was so good! Looked like a PB to me—”</p><p>“Whizzer.” Mendel rolled off of him. “Let me have this. Let me have self-pity. I’ll feel good when I see the results, don’t worry.”</p><p>“But I hate it when you degrade yourself like this. You do, what? Four other field events? You don’t have to be perfect at everything.”</p><p>“That… That actually helps. Thanks man.”</p><p>Whizzer leaned over and hugged him briefly. “Don’t mention it.”</p><p>“I don’t mean to intrude…” A higher, feminine voice cut through their moment. “But I thought you did amazing.”</p><p>Mendel looked up at the girl. At Trina. Of course. Who else would it be?</p><p>“You did?” Mendel stumbled to his feet. “Thanks!”</p><p>Trina set off talking and didn’t stop; Mendel was able to bounce everything back. A perfect match.</p><p>Whizzer groaned and got to his feet, leaning on the fence to watch the other throwers. He was so sick of people being affectionate, or maybe he was just bitter after his break-up. It was probably the latter, but Whizzer allowed himself to believe it was the former. Not the Mendel and Trina were being affectionate, but they were talking like people that were affectionate together would. He swam back to the forefront of his mind and grounded himself, ignoring his friend and the netballer.</p><p>Marvin waved subtly at him. Whizzer quirked an eyebrow and glanced over to Trina who was still absorbed in her one-sided conversation with Mendel. When he looked back, Marvin was definitely aiming the wave at him. Whizzer’s fingers twitched and he gave Marvin a wiggle of his fingers. Marvin grinned at him. Whizzer smirked back but dropped it when Mendel spoke to him.</p><p>“Whizz?”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“Trina asked you what you compete in.” Mendel said, his voice stern, making Whizzer feel like he was being used for Mendel’s self-gain, because he probably was.</p><p>“Long jump,” Whizzer grumbled. Why does Trina care what he does? And why should she?</p><p>Trina must’ve sensed his discontent because she gave him an irritated look and went back to talking to Mendel. Whizzer looked back across the track to watch the shot put but was met with Marvin tramping across the rubber. He hoisted himself up and leant against the other side of the fence.</p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>Whizzer gripped the top bar of the fence and leant away from his face. “Hi.”</p><p>“I’m Marvin,” he said, extending his arm out.</p><p>“Whizzer Brown.” Whizzer shook his hand and felt the rough, calloused skin rub against his.</p><p>“Finally can put a face to the name.” Marvin smirked. He did that a lot. “Long jump, right?”</p><p>Whizzer could’ve exploded with pride. He didn’t realise his name was one that was talked about. The names talked about were of sprinters like Shana Leota and Marcus Pérez, not fielders like Whizzer. But he was proud.</p><p>“Didn’t realise I was so popular,” Whizzer exhaled.</p><p>Marvin shrugged. “Glad you are, what’s you PB?”</p><p>“Seven forty nine.”</p><p>“Jesus.”</p><p>“That sounded like you think it’s bad.”</p><p>“Are you kidding? Last time I jumped, I got like three ten!”</p><p>“Well, your little legs probably didn’t help.”</p><p>“I just complimented you. How dare you.” Whizzer nearly collapsed thinking he had actually offended such a handsome guy, but he received a smile from the thrower and didn’t feel so bad.</p><p>“I see you’re one for sarcasm,” Whizzer concluded and watched Marvin’s arms as he hoisted himself up and over the fence. “Yours?”</p><p>“Huh?” Marvin leaned up against the fence on Whizzer’s left.</p><p>“Your personal best, what is it?”</p><p>“For long jump?”</p><p>“No, dummy.” Whizzer pushed his shoulder into Marvin’s, who swayed to the side from the soft impact. “Shot put.”</p><p>“Eh. I dunno.”</p><p>Whizzer scoffed. “So, this is either humble bragging or it’s so bad that you don’t wanna tell me.”</p><p>“Bit of both?”</p><p>“You’re kind of a brat, you know that?”</p><p>“We’ve only known each other a couple minutes. Don’t be so quick to judge.” Marvin emphasised the word ‘judge’ differently and something jumped in Whizzer’s chest.</p><p>“And what if I am quick to judge?” Whizzer folded his arms and gave a righteous smirk. Marvin turned his body to face Whizzer, leaning his left arm on the fence.</p><p>“Then you’d be missing out…” Marvin’s eyes broke away from Whizzer’s and flicked down, then up, then over at Trina and then back to Whizzer. “On some important info.”</p><p>It wasn’t an accident.</p><p>Whizzer’s smirk crept away from his face as he stared back at Marvin. “I…” Marvin’s smile was gone too. He looked sad. It made Whizzer sad. “Marvin…”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>Whizzer peeked over his shoulder and saw Mendel and Trina sitting down and talking. “Come. Let’s talk in private.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for being so patient!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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